The seams in this medium-weight wool needed to be firmly pressed and also stitched to stay flat, so I've been hand-stitching away. It's rather mindless, meditative sewing--quite relaxing at the end of the day when I want to keep my hands busy, and when my brain wants to slow down.
The next step is to add a border or to start quilting without a border in order to make the size and weight more manageable. If I proceed with the second option, I will quilt the "body" and then add front and back borders.
It's not quite this wonky--pinning it on the design wall has distorted and started to stretch the wool. I didn't leave it there long! The colors in the photos aren't true (they're richer, deeper), but I'm not sure how to remedy that problem. I seem to get either over or underexposed images no matter what I do.
Spring temperatures are here, with highs in the low forties now, but the air quality has been quite bad. Click on the U.S. Embassy's AQI image, below, to read the warning for this "Hazardous" level of pollutants. When it gets like this, as it often does, visability is so poor that flights are delayed or cancelled and highways closed. School children stay inside during recess and phys ed, as does everyone else who can possibly manage to avoid the air. Many people, millions here in Beijing alone, especially the so-called "migrant workers" -- Chinese citizens born in other areas of China who lack official relocation papers from the government--must work outside all day, six or seven days a week, in spite of poor air quality and serious health consequences.
